The Fullerton Senior Multi-Service Center is sponsoring a guided hike through the undeveloped portion of the Brea Dam Recreational Area at 9 a.m. Friday. Those who wish to participate in the free, one-hour hike are asked to wear comfortable shoes and clothing. The dam is at 1600 N. Harbor Blvd., between the YMCA and the Golf Training Center. Parking will be available in the dirt lot adjacent to the Golf Training Center. Transportation to the dam from the senior center, at 340 W.

The popular Hungry Valley recreation area for off-road vehicles is closed temporarily while repairs to roads and trails damaged by the recent tropical storms are being made, officials said Tuesday. Recent heavy rainfall and early snowmelt have caused dirt roads and off-road vehicle trails in the area, which straddles Ventura and Los Angeles counties near Gorman, to become washed out or deeply rutted, creating unsafe conditions for public use, officials said.

Your editorial, "An Oasis in the Northeast Valley," (Jan. 4) lauds the building of a swimming lake and a dinky "boating lake" in the Hansen Dam area as "restoring a once-popular park--and turning around a community that has suffered a long, slow slide into disrepair." These lakes are not, as many believed, a replacement of the old lake. The swimming lake will stand as an idle nuisance eight months of the year. And, as a resident of Lake View Terrace for 39 years, I disagree that it has had "a slide into disrepair" and I resent it. I'd prefer that Lake View Terrace remain the way it is, not attracting the expected thousands.

Indian lore, Hollywood sets, Shakespeare and close encounters with nature are among the activities in store for August in the Santa Monica Mountains. Entertainment at the Peter Strauss Ranch will include a traveling troupe performing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" from 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 6; Buzzworld, an Irish instrumental and vocal group, giving a 2 p.m. concert Aug. 13; and an evening of 1940s dance and music at 5 p.m. Aug. 19. Admission to the events is free.

The public will have a chance this week to comment on an updated plan to manage the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The 20-year-old general management plan and the companion environmental impact report are being revised by the National Park Service, California State Parks and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Once approved, the document will guide recreation and other uses in the 150,000-acre federal park. About 150,000 people live within its boundaries.

Two California congressional members introduced legislation Tuesday to explore the possibility of more than doubling the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by adding the ranges above the San Fernando, La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Simi and Conejo valleys, as well as the Arroyo Seco. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep.

Most public lands and resorts in the mountains northwest of Las Vegas are welcoming visitors after a wildfire last month that forced widespread evacuations and fouled the air on the Strip. The Carpenter 1 blaze consumed more than 43 square miles of forest. Officials described it as a “mosaic” fire, meaning it burned in patches, often in remote, rugged terrain seldom accessed by day-trippers. Most of the pine-laced hiking trails and picnic areas in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area were unscathed and have reopened.